The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a rebuilding phase, and at the moment it is difficult to predict how it will go. Major rebuild? Moderate? Minor rebuild? We'll know soon enough. But if the Cardinals want to do it right to get it right, they can learn a few things by looking across the state to the Kansas City Royals. KC lost 106 games in 2023, but the baseball operations leader, J.J, Piccolo, continued to hire very smart people who could help him modernize the organization. And while the Royals are relentless in their approach to analytics -- and very good at implementing them -- there is plenty of room for more traditional baseball philosophies. They have a brilliant first-time manager, Matt Quatraro, who combines a heavy emphasis on analytics with common-sense, old-school sensibility. Piccolo and Quartraro are showing that it is possible to live in both worlds -- and you don't have to make a choice between analytics and old-timey baseball. You can have both.

And the Royals are proving that the best way to go is (1) Get very smart; and (2) then spend money on free agents to avoid throwing money away by making stupid payroll decisions.

Oh, and it also helps to play the Chicago White Sox, their fellow AL Central resident, 13 times per season. The Royals got into the playoffs (in large part) by going 12-1 against the woeful White Sox.